Ragapot12 wrote on Aug 17^th, 2010 at 2:42am:


Is it just me, or does the video in the center of the page not work?

ShaneG wrote on Aug 17^th, 2010 at 6:18am:


I was thinking, if its online based, their servers are doing all the CPU work. Your bandwidth would determine how pretty it looks?

And anyone that has ever played any online game is familiar with the word LAG.

I'm trying to decide if this thread stays here, gets shifted to "other software"  ........ or rightfully goes straight to "Multiplayer"?   

Folks... much as we all love flight SIMULATION... the $$$ are in the casual flier gamer market.  Microsoft is not stupid. 

However, with this release ...they are trying to have their cake and eat it too, I think.  Mistake.

I like my FS2004. 

best,

.............john

yancovitch wrote on Aug 17^th, 2010 at 8:09pm:

Well they definately promote user made addons (they did give away GMax and SDK software with previous releases) but I don't know why they would stop others from profiteering. Unless they were going to release a lot of addons themselves, they wouldn't be losing any revenue, thus no point in it.

I'm not getting my hopes up about this either. If that video was taken from in-game, I can't imagine what the actual simulator would do to our poor, defenseless computers! 

I'm sticking with FSX (and occasionally FS9  ) and just sitting back to watch all the problems with the sim when people get it. 

Hopefully it does not have an outdated, slow, decade old engine like FSX that still runs badly on midrange computers. I'm glad they're doing something new, because I think most would agree that another release like FSX would be disappointing in pretty much every way possible. The only thing that remains to be seen is how well they pull it off. I also, hope, that it's still a simulator, but we'll see when more information comes out. I wonder if they dropped the 'simulator' from the title because it's no longer a simulator, or because they want to differentiate it with the previous flight simulators from some reason? Besides, a "Microsoft Flight Simulator XI" would sound boring.

"Twenty-eight years after the debut of "Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0," Microsoft Game Studios also announced the internal development of "Microsoft Flight," a new Windows exclusive. "Microsoft Flight" will bring a new perspective to the long-standing genre, welcoming everyone, including long-time fans, to experience the magic of flight."

So it's definitely something new.... I am happy, but also cautious!

Here's a higher resolution video that looks damn sweet:

http://content4.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/99d6370e-0e60-4f1c-8a26-2055ee71c269...

I'm not going to condemn it until more information comes out! Also, it might be pre-rendered, meaning it's may not be the actual game, or the actual graphics! Anyone else remember the DX10 pictures of FSX, that were later found out to be concept art? Come to think of it, it looks like it may be pre-rendered.

If anyone remembers this blog by P-12C? He posted again:

http://paul-flightsimguy.spaces.live.com/default.aspx


"Cough, cough...
Just dusting off the cobwebs a bit. I might actually need to do something with this blog in the future."
which was like 1 day before the annauncement

too early to tell what it will be like imo


pretty much all we know is:
1. The video was probably pre-rendered
2. it will use windows live
3. it will not be developed by ACES
4. it's probably going to be significantly different to MSFS.
5 . it may / may not be a simulator



As far as Windows live goes, it's probably like GTAIV, or Dirt 2. You pretty much only log into Windows live for copy protection (verifies your cd-key and account bascially) and if you want to play online. You can also join friends servers, and message them.... which is great. also, windows live is a free service, I find it HIGHLY doubtful, even impossible to beleive that there will be a subscription free.

I agree with Bill 99%, although I think that it will likely be using a whole new engine, which is great. It will not be ACES developing this like FS9 / FSX, so I doubt they'd use the same engine...

P.S:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/CloudBgnd.jpg

Cool photo. It's the background for the site. KSEA. Obviously not an in-game photo, but just thought I'd point it out.

P.P.S

http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/

Notice the picture of the pilot on the right is a Women. And also the woman in the video saying, 'when I was young, I dreamed I could fly'. Wonder if they're connected?

P.P.P.S

Quote:

Considering there's only been a 5 second video, and a press release. I think you're jumping the gun. We'll see.

Also, water on high 2.0x in FSX pretty much halves fps, in modern games you get no such hit because they use newer technology, and they're also much better optimized.... and a modern flight 'simulator' (?) should be more multithreaded, too. Besides, they should be loading the GPU more. With FSX my graphics card is practically idling. Load the CPU & GPU so no processing power is left to waste.

Also, I'm not sure why you would want graphics done by the CPU, anyway.

Quote:

It uses Windows Live, but that doesn't imply that it's online based, or online only (although it may need an internet connection to run, for verification). To my knowledge, very few games offload any significant portion of the work to the sever.

I would be excited but theres no point to get excited when i dont even have a computer that can run FSX so it wont be able to run this.

Quote:


Of course, they are connected.  This is the beginning of the marketing campaign for this offering. 

The target audience is likely the gaming market that FSX started to move toward.... and everything that is offically posted aboit "Flight" seems to be also pointing toward.

What is the prime target audience demographic in that sector,........... teen aged / young adult boys.  How do you "sell" with subliminal messaging to that audience and catch their attention? 

Think about it.   

Notice the formal elements of composition used on that image.  What draws your attention on that young lady?  Notice the use of the clouds, and how that affects things there a bit.   Look at the discrepancies in the lighting shadows to notice some stuff is retouched for "effect". 

And add in a nice young female voice on the voice over.

Perfect!

The choices used in this kind of "teaser" are not coincidences.  High paid marketing folks are all over this kind of stuff.  It is what they DO. 

One more message about what MS is probably thinking.

best,

..................john